DVD pauses during play (1 Viewer)

[MalcolmC]

I have a Kenwood Sovereign Series DV-5700 changer. Occasionally, it will pause in mid play for about 2 seconds, then resume. After some research, I found others with the same problem. Apparently it is due to the player moving from one layer to another in a dual-layered disk. Kenwood acknowledged this happens but see it as normal for models of this age (2001). This problem was a nasty revelation to me,as nobody I have spoken with, inlcuding the dealer, in the last three weeks has heard of it. I am not willing to tolerate it in my player. I hear that new (2003) models should have some buffering to prevent this from happening. Any thoughts??

 

[Tim K]

This happens with all players on dual layer disc. (not to be confused with dual sided discs which you used to have to flip over). It varies by machine and manufacturer as to how noticeable the change is. Older players often take longer. Some take 2 seconds, some take less than half a second. You can ask for advice about which players handle this better than others.

Basically, the laser which reads the disc starts on the inside and moves outward as the disc spins...in some longer films the entire movie cannot be stored on one layer. When the laser gets to the outside of the disc, it has to be repositioned or refocused, and then moves back towards the middle (it may go out to in first, not sure on the direction). Think of the DVD as if it has two tracks written side by side, only the second track is backwards. When you get to the end of the first track you have to turn around and start the second track going the other way. The pause is simply the laser finding the start of the second track.

Hope that explains it...

 

[David_D]

Tim has described this pretty well. However, the amount of pause can very between players and between discs. Also, a few players have buffers, but most do not.

 

[Chuck Kent]

Malcolm: The guys are right. Layer changes have been here from the very start of DVDs. The only discs that didn't do it were the single layer ones and you had to get up, take the disc out and physically flip it over before you could continue play for those. (Thank God they are pretty much gone!) Compared to getting up out the chair, layer change pauses are wonderful!

I find it interesting that your dealer has never heard of layer changes???????

As David mentions, there are a few players that now have RAM buffer memories to help shorten or even eliminate layer change pauses. But these players are still reasonably rare and they are more expensive.

Here is a link to Denon's most recent DVD line-up comparison. At the bottom of the 1st page you'll see a spec showing the amount of layer change buffer memory. http://www.usa.denon.com/catalog/pdf...t%20100203.pdf
This is the number you need to look for if you are going to look for a new player...

 

[NickSo]

Yeah,dont worry bout it, all dual-layered DVDs since the dawn of DVD have done this with almost all set-top DVD players out on the market.